The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025
STING 'Speedy Disclaimer Hijack' makes rivals' disclaimers its own demo — Lynx Grand Prix
Impact BBDO buys the slots right after Pakistani TV ads' rapid-fire disclaimers and reveals the voice behind them drinks Sting — brand ID up 74%.
STING (PepsiCo)
What it had to solve
In Pakistan, nearly every TV commercial ends with the same staple: a voice racing through legal disclaimers at impossible speed. STING, Pakistan's leading energy drink, wanted to demonstrate its energy in a way no competitor could copy, without a celebrity face.
How it works
In Pakistan, the end of almost every TV commercial is the same: a voice racing through legal disclaimers at breakneck speed. Viewers have learned to tune out, and advertisers treat the slot as dead air — which is exactly what Impact BBDO and STING saw in it.
The agency recruited Momin Khan, Pakistan's most recognisable disclaimer voice artist, and built the campaign around the reveal that he drinks Sting to power up before recording his lines. Then it bought media slots immediately after other brands' disclaimers, so each competitor's ad break ended with Sting taking over — turning rivals' commercials into the brand's own product demo.
The idea was designed specifically for Pakistan: a beloved local energy drink meeting a local advertising trope. Instead of a conventional celebrity, the campaign gave the country's best-known anonymous voice a starring role, linking the brand to high energy in an unexpected, authentic context.
At Dubai Lynx 2025 the campaign took the Film Grand Prix from 117 entries plus a Gold Lynx. Reported results included brand identification up 74%, 50 BPS value share growth, 36 PPT+ brand distinction over competitors and an 88% improvement in customer satisfaction.
Why it lands
- The insight is a piece of local advertising culture — the rapid-fire disclaimer — that every Pakistani viewer knows and every brand ignores.
- Renting the slot after rivals' disclaimers turned competitors' media spend into Sting's own stage, with next to no original production.
- Momin Khan gave the brand an authentic voice no competitor could hire away, because the character and the trope were inseparable.
- The execution made the product's promise literal: the energy drink demonstrably powered the fastest voice in Pakistani advertising.
What it did
'Speedy Disclaimer Hijack' won the Film Grand Prix at Dubai Lynx 2025, beating 117 entries, plus a Gold Lynx. The case study reports brand identification up 74%, 50 BPS value share growth, 36 PPT+ brand distinction over competitors, and an 88% improvement in customer satisfaction.
What you can take
An overlooked legal obligation can become a media moment: instead of buying attention against competitors, rent the space right after their ads and let their own disclaimers set up your story.
Since then
The campaign became the reference work of Dubai Lynx 2025 in Film, taking the Grand Prix from 117 entries and adding a Gold Lynx for the single-market campaign. Industry coverage highlighted how a 15-second legal requirement, normally treated as dead air, could be converted into a brand's most efficient media buy. For Impact BBDO Dubai, named one of the MENA Agencies of the Year at the same ceremony, the work reinforced the agency's run of media-structure ideas — and STING kept the hijack format available for follow-up bursts in Pakistan's ad breaks.
Sources
- All the 2025 Dubai Lynx Awards
- Speedy Disclaimer Hijack — Dubai Lynx 2025 entry
- Speedy Disclaimer Hijack — campaign page
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